Page 75 of A Love So Hard

Lucy’s shoulders lowered from the tense position they’d been. “We need to talk, privately,” she mentioned as she glanced at our daughter. Just then Sandman appeared at the top of the landing and looked down.

“You couldn’t wait a few more minutes?” His question came as he adjusted his pants before he noticed whom I was speaking with. “Shit! Right, sorry about that. Kelly, come on up here. We’ll just get our shit together and head out.”

“Sure,” the woman said, not hesitating about getting away from the tension in the air. Sandman threw me an apologetic look and then turned to walk away as soon as Kelly made it to him.

“You didn’t believe me,” I stated as I turned back to Lucy.

“I considered your new club rules when we walked through the door after being told by the man there that you didn’t have an old lady. Look through my eyes,” was all she said.

“You were told what the fuck now?” I growled.

She waved me off. “Don’t worry about it. Crow set him straight before sending us in. Obviously we never come up in conversation around here since the five-month old prospect wasn’t aware of who we were,” she added. “It’s whatever. We need to talk though.”

She moved past me toward the kitchen and I followed. I noticed Anna was holding on to something that looked like maybe pictures, and I will admit it had my curiosity peeked. If she had come here to claim I was cheating or anything else, I would nip that in the bud too. Though, I honestly couldn’t think of a single time during our separation – tonight excluded – where anything I had ever done could be even closely misconstrued as cheating.

“Is Evan around?” Lucy finally asked.

“Evan? Who?” I asked, and then it hit me when I glanced back at Anna. A quick look down to the things she was holding, the black and white images there on the flimsy paper. I glanced back up to Lucy who was chewing her lip and running a finger down her cute little button of a nose. SHIT.

“Joker?” I asked.

Anna smiled. “That’s perfect for him,” she admitted and then the smile disappeared to be replaced by a frown and a hint of tears as the back door opened up and laughter filter in along with my other daughter, her old man, Joker, and what looked like his date for the night. Fuck.

“Momma-Luce? Anna?” Ever called out when she noticed all of us standing there. Then she turned to me. “What’s going on?”

Anna, my beautiful daughter who never had a lick of sense for how to be subtle just blurted out the words I knew were coming. “I’m pregnant.” Joker’s face paled immediately.

“Shit!” That was from Deck.

“Isn’t that your little sis, Ev?” Asked the girl who was with them, and was obviously Joker’s date. Then she stupidly tugged on his arm, not taking in the fact that he’d lost all his color. “We better leave them to the family stuff. Looks like it’s gonna get brutal.” The girl seemed to take a little pleasure in that and I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Ever cut her eyes right over to her and looked like she was about to say something, but I jumped in instead.

“You will go nowhere!” It was an order. The bitch froze in place, but I hadn’t been talking to her. I scanned her anyway, sizing her up for the bitch that she was, and then cut my eyes back to Joker. “I see it didn’t take you long to move on from my daughter after knocking her up,” I roared at him.

“The fuck!” Joker volleyed back. “I didn’t even know she was pregnant. You told me to stay away! She lied about who the fuck she was and how old she was, and who knows what else she lied about too. Probably everything. Probably lying about being pregnant too, for all I know. What did you expect me to do? Sit around pining for a liar who never told me she was pregnant to begin with?”

Well hell, he had a point. Rock, meet hard place. “Ever,” I said, turning to my daughter. “Get her out of here, please.”

“No!” The girl spat back at me, obviously not knowing who the hell she was talking to. “I came with Joker, and I’m going to leave with him,” she insisted as she clung to his arm.

“You sure as fuck aren’t talking to my family like that!” Ever declared and yanked her off of Joker. “I don’t give a fuck if Joker wants that pussy, we’ll chalk this one up to him losing out.” When everyone went still Ever turned back around and saw the look on her sister’s face. “Shit!” It was her mumbled apology that followed that caused the first tear to fall from Anna’s beautifully wounded eyes.

“What in the fuck is happening to my family?” I asked while simultaneously losing all the steam I had in me. Ever turned to the girl, but before she could get a word out Deck stepped up and pointed behind me. “Prospect there is gonna show you the way out and see that you get home,” he told her.

“Yeah, whatever,” she responded snidely. “Joker, I like you, but I’m not trying to raise anyone else’s babies for them just because they’re baby mamma is too young to do it.”

“Fuck you!” Anna shouted and I had to grab her up before she could launch herself at the woman. “You’re not coming anywhere near my baby, bitch!”

“Holy fuck!” Joker’s words were my thoughts exactly.

“Come on,” I told them all. Then I remembered we had an audience still because Anna hadn’t invited Ever and Deck into this. “Actually, just you,” I told Joker. I saw the flash of hurt that moved quickly across Ever’s features, but there was also understanding. She nodded and that’s what we were about to do before Anna stepped in.

“It’s okay. I’d rather you be there, Ever.”

“If that’s what you want,” she agreed.

I took them all to the room where we normally held church. We didn’t allow women in here, not for club business, but it was honestly the only place I could think where we’d all fit with enough room that we also might not kill one another.

“You want me to wait out here?” Deck asked.

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